ake warning from the miserable result of his
private speculations during that period.

Batavia is not the unhealthy place it has been usually deemed. The city
itself is certainly bad enough; but no European sleeps a single night in
it out of a twelvemonth.

[Footnote 1: 1845. His Excellency Mr. Minns, since dead.]

[Footnote 2: A _pecul_ is a Chinese weight used all over the
Eastern Archipelago, and is equal to 133-1/3 lbs.
avoirdupoise.]

From four to five o'clock every evening, the road leading from the town
to the suburbs is thronged with vehicles of all descriptions, conveying
the merchants from their counting-houses to their country or suburban
residences, where they remain till nine o'clock the next morning. These
country residences are delightfully situated to the south of Batavia,
properly so called, extending inland over many square miles of country.
Every one of them has a garden (called here a compound) of considerable
extent, well stocked with plants, shrubs, and trees, which serve to give
them a lively and elegant appearance, and to keep them moderately cool
in the hottest weather. Servants' wages being very low here, every
European of any respectability is enabled to keep up a sufficient
establishment, and to repair to his office in his carriage or hooded
gig, in which he may defy the sun. Many of them, particularly Dutchmen,
have an imprudent practice of driving in an open carriage, with an
umbrella held over their heads by a native servant standing on the
foot-board behind his master.

Having resided several years in the suburbs of Batavia, I have no
hesitation in saying, that, with common prudence, eschewing _in toto_
the vile habit of drinking gin and water whenever one feels thirsty,
living generously but carefully, avoiding the sun's rays by always using
a close or hooded carriage, and taking common precautions against wet
feet and damp clothing, a man may live--and enjoy life, too--in
Batavia, as long as he would in any other part of the world. Many people
may think this a bold assertion; nevertheless, I make it without fear of
contradiction from any one acquainted by experience with the country.

One great and invaluable advantage over all our Eastern Colonies,
Batavia, in common with every part of Java, possesses, in the facilities
that exist for travelling from one part of the Island to another.
Throughout Java, there are excellent roads, and on every road a post
establishm